Sermons

Do You Want to Live a Beautiful Life?

Posted by Alex on
Sermon on May 14 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture: Proverbs 1:1-7

What is a beautiful life? Where does it begin? The first seven verses open up the whole book of Proverbs for us

v1 The Title of Proverbs ; v 2-6 The Goals of Proverbs and v7 The DNA of the beautiful life.

If you want a beautiful life:

1. SEE GOD IN ALL OF LIFE! (v1)
This book is a collection of wisdom for a complex life from several people – but Solomon, David’s son is most well-known.

  • Only God knows how you tick
    If God made you and the universe, He alone can teach you what will fly (work) in life, and what will crash.
  • Only in God do we see the true meaning of all of life
    We cannot divorce wisdom from God’s story to bring salvation to the world – is your story connected to God’s story?

2. FIGHT FOR GROWTH IN ALL OF LIFE! (V2-6)
God has two goals for us: Deep character ‘gaining wisdom and instruction’ (v2a) and straight thinking ‘understanding words of insight’ (v2b)

  • Wisdom comes by wading in the deep, not the shallows (v3 and 4)
    Life skills are not learned in comfort of a ship’s cabin, but by navigating through the storms and waves of life.
  • Wisdom comes from thinking hard, not hurriedly (v5 and 6)
    The beauty of a wise life is when the non-obvious becomes obvious to you. (1 Sam. 16:17)

‘The simple believe anything but the prudent give thought to their ways.’
(Prov. 14:15)

3. DELIGHT IN GOD IN FOR ALL OF LIFE! (V7)

  • Knowing your place before Him
    To fear God is to know your place. GOD IS with or without you and me.

‘In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that- and therefore know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all.’
(CS Lewis)

  • Living by grace for Him
    Loving Jesus above all is the key to wisdom. It frees us from the sin of insecurity by giving us Jesus. He is the only righteousness we need for life and eternity.

Remember! A beautiful life begins with the fear of the Lord and understanding of the beauty of the Cross ‘the foolishness of God’ Fear Him and you will fear nothing else.

Download the sermon (save link as…) .

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

  1. How does the media and the culture portray a beautiful life? What kind of ‘wisdom’ do they offer?
  2. What is wisdom according to Solomon? Is there a relationship between wisdom and discipline? Where do we learn wisdom best? Give reasons for your answer?
  3. What does it mean to fear God? How can we demonstrate this fear in our homes and work? What are you doing to teach your children this fear? How can we model this best to each other in a world that tries to push God out of life?

 

 

 

Photo credit FreeImages.com/Michal Rybski